How to put your small business on the web

By: Ptolemy Consulting

One question we are often asked is "how do I get my small business onto the Web?". Here are the basic steps – to get you started in the right direction.

Some terminology first of all. A "web host" is a company who provides a computer permanently connected to the internet that allows your website to be seen by the public. The services provided by a web host vary (as do the costs!) but you should be looking for one who will host your site with minimal disruptions, takes regular backups of your site in case of hardware failure, and keeps up to date with security patches and anti-virus software.

If you have a connection to the internet, you will probably already have an amount of web hosting space made available to you. However this will probably have a name like users.bigpond.com/yourname. This may be fine to use for sharing photos of the kids with grandma, but probably doesn’t give the professional image you want for your business.

In this case, the first step you need to make is to register a domain name. There are a variety of domain names available now - .com, .com.au, .biz, .net etc. Registration prices vary depending on your provider - plus there is usually a setup fee that varies from provider to provider. Approximate registration costs are $140 for 2 years.

There is a restriction with the .com.au domain that you must have a registered business name and the domain name you want to register must be related to the business name or ‘trading as’ name. For eg if your business name is Jane’s Mobile Pet Grooming service, you may be able to register www.janesmobilepetgrooming.com.au or www.mobilepetgrooming.com.au, but not something like www.cutsforpets.com.au.

There is another option – some hosts (eg www.hunterlink.net.au) offer a subdomain – a domain name which includes their hostname in your domain name – eg www.acme.hl.com.au. This is a cheaper option, however, you need to be aware that if you want to change your web host in the future, then you must also change your domain name. You are in effect tied to this web host if you want to keep your name. With a normal domain name, you can change web hosts without changing your domain name – like keeping your mobile number when you change telephone providers.

Once you’ve registered your domain name, you need to have someone to host your site. Costs for this vary considerably. You will still need to keep your dial-up or broadband account so that you have access to the internet – the hosting just allows everyone else to see your site.

So what about the site itself? You can spend as little or as much as you like! There are 2 types of site you can have – static or dynamic. A static site is made up of html pages that only change what the person viewing your site sees when you or your designer physically change the pages. You can either pay someone to develop the web pages for you, or if you like playing with computers and have the time, you can develop one yourself using software such as Microsoft Frontpage. A dynamic site is one that allows your prospective clients a more interactive experience – what they see can change each time they visit the site. This is useful for things such as the display of products from your catalog stored in an Access database, or to allow login to a member’s only section. This uses special technologies such as Active Server Pages (.asp), Cold Fusion (.cfm) or PHP. They will cost more to develop and also to host, but you save with less maintenance of your pages. You also provide a better experience for your users. If you want to use eCommerce facilities, this will again cost more to develop and host but provides the obvious advantage of closing the sale immediately.

Hopefully this will have given you an idea of some options and costs to consider when putting your business on-line. For more information, you can contact Kerrie at Ptolemy Consulting by emailing kerrie@ptolemyconsulting.com.au